


Starlight

by ArcHeavyGunner



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Battlefront, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Galactic Civil War Era (Star Wars), How does AO3 not have a Rebel Trooper tag?, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope, Well now there is one, non-human protagonist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 02:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7247680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcHeavyGunner/pseuds/ArcHeavyGunner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jericho is a Nautolan serving with the Rebel Alliance. Just another Rebel Trooper, he is stationed on a planet too far from home for him to care about it's name. With the First Death Star recently destroyed, Jericho is forced on patrol around the base while everyone else celebrates. And while he really should be paying attention for Imperial counter-attacks, instead he finds himself watching the stars and reminiscing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight

Jericho looked up at the alien stars, the cool air running up and down his exposed skin. The rebel base around him was, for the first time in a few days, quiet. Now hovercraft hauling cargo, no speeders blasting to and fro, no patrols of soldiers running to each corner of the base. No, the base was quiet now, outside of the low hum of the generator. 

He was one of the only troopers on patrol that night. It was suppose to be a big celebration, but wars don’t stop for parties. Apparently the Empire’s superweapon, the Death Star, had just been destroyed over Yavin.  _ ‘The Rebellion lives on to fight another day. Score one for us,’  _ the gunner thought, only slightly bitter about not being able to spend the night with that cute human guy. According to his friends, he was a great shot on  _ and _ off the field, not that he would ever find out at this rate. 

The Nautolan took off his helmet and ran a hand over his head, feeling the ridges and bumps of his scalp through his fingerless gloves. Putting his helmet back on, and adjusting the strap on his light repeater, he continued to walk towards the entrance of the base. His post, a small armored dugout, was just outside the base.  _ ‘First line of defense. More like first one to get shot,’ _ the trooper scoffed to himself as he exited the gate, giving a two finger salute to the Zabrak sniper in the guard tower.

Finally arriving at his post, Jericho leaned his blaster against the stone barrier and took his pack off, allowing his shoulders to rest. The base was still quiet, despite the party raging inside the secondary hanger. The gunner sighed, and began to fiddle with the scope on his blaster, but he was soon distracted by the night sky. Sighing again, a habit picked up recently, he leaned against the wall of the dugout and stared at the sky, watching the stars twinkle and laugh. But, not long after, he remembered he actually had a job to do, not that it really mattered that night.

The commando continued to sit behind the low stone barrier, desperately trying to focus on his job. But no, no one would be approaching their little base tonight, not after the defeat the Empire just suffered. Despite trying even harder to set up his blasters sight and get his power pack all set, Jericho failed just as miserably as staying focused. Sighing yet again, his mind went back to focusing on something far more interesting; on the stars so far above him, so alien, yet so familiar.

When Jericho was little, he would always watch the stars. His dad, before he went off to fight and never come back, had an old telescope that they would use to watch ships come and go from their little moon, too small and irrelevant to have a name worth remember beyond it’s atmosphere. When the Republic’s fleet would do their normal patrols, little Jericho would always run outside and wonder if his daddy was on one of the ships. Oh, how he would jump up and down, always so excited to maybe, just maybe, see his dad again. And always so disappointed when the fleet jumped out of orbit.

Something caught Jericho’s attention. Something was rocketing across the sky. It looked like a falling star to him. No, it couldn’t be, it was moving too fast. The soldier bent down and quickly grabbed his quadnocs, bringing them up to his eyes. He zoomed in as far as the mechanical device would let him, trying his damndest to identify just what was falling through the sky. He strained his eye, wondering if he was seeing a burning angel or a falling piece of debris. 

Before Jericho could fully ID what was rocketing down, it shot behind the horizon. Perhaps it was just a falling star, or nothing more than some durasteel burning up in orbit. Perhaps an escape pod finally coming home after decades of being away. The rebel let the quadnocs fall around his neck, and once more sat down behind the stone barrier. He took off his field helmet and began fiddling with his repeating blaster, disassembling and reassembling it just to pass the time. But there was that shooting star... _ again.  _ And then another one. And another.  _ ‘Oh god. Not again…’ _

Jericho remembered when he first saw them. Massive grey ships blotting out the sky, with legions of soldiers in blazing white armor pouring out of them. Their defense forces never stood a chance. The Empire had arrived, and they were not pleased. Citizens that were unlucky enough to be non-human were forced out of their jobs, their cities, their homes. The diversity that Jericho’s little moon had was stomped out of it when They showed up. Then the mining began. Massive tubes were erected far into the sky as the luscious mountains were strip mined, the great forests torn up and pulped. Those who couldn’t escape the planet were turned into nothing more the slaves, vomiting back propoganda at whoever disagreed with the Empire. He watched from the shadows as protesters were beaten at first, and the shot by Imperial Army troopers. He watched as people were forced out of their lives when the Empire shut down all “unapproved” trade, allowing mega corporations to claim their slice of the moon. And he watched as one day, ships landed and people fought the Empire. They fought the Empire and they won. Jericho was going to make sure that happened again.

When the Imperials landed, the stormtroopers sprinted out of their dropships. “Light resistance” is what they were told to expect. What their intel didn’t tell them was that there was an angry Nautolan with a light repeating blaster who wouldn’t give them an inch. They also weren’t told about the shockingly well stocked, armed, and staffed rebel base that would within weeks kick them back off the planet.

Jericho gripped his blaster tighter as he let another suppressing burst, the powerpack on his back straining to keep up. Everytime he saw a glisten of white, the commando would let out a torrent of blue blaster bolts, tearing the Imperial cannon-fodder to shreds. Every burst from the muzzle of his blaster turned the darkness around him to day. The red Imperial bolts landed all around him, burning the ground and his cover, but never hitting him. When the Imperials brought in light vehicles, the base’s cannons tore them to shreds. When they tried to rush the outer walls, Jericho and dozens of other rebels rained blaster fire down on them, killing the charge to a man.  But they Imperials just wouldn’t stop.

It took most of the night, but the Nautolan’s position finally got overrun. So, like any good soldier would do, he took out his pistol and continued to fight. Jericho stood up from the cover he was using and blasted away at every stormtrooper that passed. And with every shot, his DL-44 was inched ever closer to overheating. But that didn’t stop him. When his pistol overheated, he took one of the fallen stormtrooper’s blasters and fought on. Jericho was not letting his position go without a fight, even if in the scheme of things it meant little. All he cared about was taking as many of them as he could with him. And when Jericho was finally struck by bolt after blaster bolt, he fell to the ground, holding his head high.

Finally, a chance to see the stars. He watched each one flicker in it’s own unique way. He wondered if he could see his home star from here. He wondered if anyone there still remembered him. And as he pulled a thermal detonator from his pouch, the stormtroopers surrounding him, he smiled. He recognized one of the stars, the same one he would always look to as a boy. And when Jericho pressed a small button on the metallic sphere, as the stormtroopers finally noticed what was in his hand, he noticed something; their own star was rising, casting light onto the darkness.


End file.
